Pink sails versus blue. A quick gybe and the crash of a few roll tacks. On the water umpiring accompanied by a loud-speaker commentary. There is much to the short, sharp sailing of the team racing discipline that differentiates it from standard fleet racing but none more so, perhaps, than its spectator appeal.
Today's first round of the Indigo ISAF (International Sailing Federation) World Team Racing Championships will not only offer spectators the clearest picture of a world championship dinghy race ever seen on this island, but will also present the opportunity to examine the true intricacies of small dinghies.
Twenty teams of double-handed crews drawn from 14 nations will show their boat handling skills in 12-foot Firefly dinghies over a course only a stone's throw from Dun Laoghaire's East Pier bandstand.
The championship itself, hosted by the Royal St George YC at a cost of over £250,000, marks a new chapter in the history of Irish dinghy sailing. It is the first ISAF champion ship to be raced in this country and certainly the most prestigious to be raced entirely inside Dun Laoghaire harbour's 100 hectares.
There is hope that the performance of two Irish teams among the competing nations will rekindle the fascinating sport of dinghy team racing that has had a following, albeit in a small way more recently, in this country for over 50 years.
Today's opening rounds involve pairs of teams each sailing in three supplied identical dinghies and racing over short courses.
Although the captain of Ireland's A team Max Treacy, who is from the host club, has quarter-final aspirations at the very least, it may be an Irishman, sailing for England, who is favourite to win the title currently held by the United States.
Malahide's Roger Morris, a former Irish Mirror and Fireball champion, who won gold at the inaugural 1995 world championships and was runner-up last year believes that this year's event is pretty open, though his adopted country and the USA are undisputed favourites.
Treacy, who hails from Dun Laoghaire, draws his own team from the convincing winners of last year's Irish Sailing Association's National Dinghy Team Racing Championship. The A team also enters the fray today with the advantage of six weeks practice in Firefly dingies. Andrew Fowler, Max Treacy and Michael O'Connor are the three helms, while Gina Henderson, Emma Lovegrove and Dermot Boylan are the crews.
The second Irish squad is a Ballyholme YC dominated line-up, with Jamie Boag as the team captain. Aisling Bowman of the National YC is an Olympic veteran and was tenth in the Europe class at Atlanta in 1996. Paddy Oliver was a member of the 1998 Irish silver medal-winning team in Miami, while Leslie Ryan, Linda Eadie and Maureen Miller are the crews.
The full line-up of teams is: USA (2), Britain (2), Ireland (2), Australia (2), South Africa (2), New Zealand, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Netherlands, Spain and Canada.
